Terry Berends, PE - AASHTO VE Technical Committee Member
Washington State Department of Transportation - Assistant State Design Engineer, Statewide Value Engineering & Cost Risk Manager
Terry is a graduate from South Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and is a licensed Professional Engineer.
Terry has worked for WSDOT for 17 years, in a variety of positions including Designer, Construction Inspector, Project Engineer, Region Design Engineer, and currently as an Assistant State Design Engineer. Terry manages the Value Engineering and Cost Estimating office for WSDOT and has led over 20 VE studies for WSDOT. Terry led the effort on developing the Self Modeling Spreadsheet which allowed WSDOT to combine Cost Risk Assessments and Value Engineering studies together. Terry serves on the AASHTO Value Engineering Technical Committee and is a member of SAVE international.
E-mail: berendt@wsdot.wa.gov
Ron F. Garrett, CVS - AASHTO VE Technical Committee Member
Virginia Departement of Transportation - Value Engineering Manager
Ron Garrett's 33-year career with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) includes experience in surveying, roadway design, special design, consultant coordination, and Value Engineering (VE). Prior to his appointment as State Value Engineering Manager, Ron served as the Regional Value Engineer for VDOT's Richmond District. His duties now include overseeing the statewide VE program for the Commonwealth of Virginia's multi-billion dollar transportation program. During Ron's tenure VDOT's VE Program has expanded their functions to now include Scoping stage studies and Constructability Review studies.
Ron is a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, a past officer of the American Society of Highway Engineers, and a member of SAVE, International. He obtained his CVS certification in 1993.
Virginia is considered a national leader in transportation Value Engineering. VE at VDOT was legislated by the Virginia General Assembly in 1990. Since that time, a full-time, in-house staff, supplemented by consultant team leaders, has conducted more than 850 Value Engineering studies. VDOT's entire VE staff is CVS certified.
E-mail: Ron.Garrett@VDOT.Virginia.Gov
Stephe Holmes, PE, CVS - AASHTO VE Technical Committee Member
Ontario Ministry of Transportation - Value Engineering Coordinator
Steve Holmes graduated from the University of Waterloo with a BASc in Civil Engineering in 1985. He has worked for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation for 18 years. His technical background includes highway planning and design, foundation design, and highway safety. Steve has managed MTO's VE program since 1999. Although MTO's VE program is not required by legislation VE is now accepted at MTO as a routine part of project management and many municipalities in Ontario are now initiating VE programs. The ideas and assistance of members of the AASHTO VE Technical Committee contributed greatly to the growth of the VE program at MTO.
Steve is also a director of the Canadian Society of Value Analysis (CSVA). In 2003 MTO received an award from the CSVA for "exceptional contribution to the advancement of Value Management and support to the CSVA."
E-mail: steve.holmes@ontario.ca
Richard G. Jaffe, PE - AASHTO VE Technical Committee Member
New Jersey Department of Transportation - Manager, Value Management
Richard Jaffe is a civil engineering graduate from the University of
Pittsburgh and is a licensed professional engineer. After working in the private sector, Richard has been with the New Jersey Department of Transportation since 1986 and with the Value Engineering Unit since 1993. In New Jersey during the last several federal fiscal years, the average yearly VE savings was over $50 million in design proposals and over $1 million in construction change proposals. In 1999, Richard co-authored an article published in Value World entitled "Value Engineering and Design-Build: New Jersey's Experience." More recently, he helped the New Jersey Department of Transportation create a Road User Cost Manual that provides a means to quantify road user costs that are due to construction activities.
E-mail: richard.jaffe@dot.state.nj.us
Kurt G. Lieblong, PE - AASHTO VE Technical Committee Chair
Florida Department of Transportation - State Value Engineer
Kurt Lieblong is the State Value Engineer for the Florida Department of Transportation. After working in the private sector, Kurt has been managing the FDOT VE program since 1999. During that time the Department has been selected twice by FHWA for the "Value Engineering Outstanding Achievement Award" and received the "Outstanding Accomplishment in Construction Award" from SAVE International. Since 1999, The FDOT VE program has performed more than 200 studies resulting in nearly $900 million in cost avoidance during design and approved more than 80 value engineering change proposals for over $20 million in construction savings.
Kurt has served on the AASHTO Value Engineering Technical Committee for the past four years. He was the Conference Chairman for the 2003 AASHTO VE Conference and take over as Chairman of the AASHTO VE Technical Committee in July 2005. He is a registered professional engineer and a certified building contractor in the State of Florida.
E-mail: kurt.lieblong@dot.state.fl.us
Raymond A. Petrucci, PE - AASHTO Technical Committee Member
Delaware Departement of Transportation - Project Manager, Value Engineer
Raymond A. Petrucci is a project manager and value engineer for the Delaware Department of Transportation. He has also worked as the Engineer-in-Charge of Delaware operations of the HNTB Corporation. Several of his projects have won awards, including the Delaware Memorial Bridge Pin & Links Repair, Modifications to US 13 at Hares Corner, Wilmington Transit Center II and S. Madison Street Connector.
Mr. Petrucci has received the American Society of Highway Engineers Presidents Award for outstanding contribution to the highway industry, and is also the recipient of the National Value Engineering award for outstanding commitment to value engineering. He is past National President of the American Society of Highway Engineers and has also served as an officer for the Consulting Engineers Council of Delaware.
Ray presently manages all the Department's work on the redevelopment on the Christina River in Wilmington, Delaware.
As a value engineer, he has led the VE teams for the $100 million SR-1, Relief Route projects which realized actual savings of about $20 million. Ray continues to work as Delaware's value engineering expert and also serves on the National AASHTO Technical Committee for VE.
E-mail: rpetrucci@mail.dot.state.de.us
Carlos O. Ruiz, PE - AASHTO VE Technical Committee Member
New Mexico Department of Transportation - Value Engineering Coordinator
Carlos O. Ruiz graduated from the University of Veracruz, Mexico, in 1974, with a BS in Civil Engineering. Carlos is a professional engineer in the states of New Mexico and Arizona, as well as in Mexico. During his 30-year career, Carlos has worked for a variety of consulting engineering firms in the state of New Mexico and in Mexico. Mr. Ruiz has been employed by the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) for 10 years, of which he was the Director of the Office of International Programs for 6.5 years. In December 2001, Carlos took over the responsibilities of administering and coordinating the statewide Value Engineering Program. He is currently the NMDOT Value Engineering Coordinator, a member of the AASHTO VE Technical Committee, and a member of SAVE International.
NMDOT has been applying the Value Engineering methodology since 1977. However, the NMDOT VE Program was formalized in 1998. Since then, the NMDOT Value Engineering Program has been very active and successful, performing more than 35 Value Engineering studies in the last 5 years and reporting savings in project design and construction of more than $212 million.
E-mail: Carlos.Ruiz@nmshtd.state.nm.us